No water, bad smells: No one said time in Purgatory would be easy

FIREBASE PURGATORY, Afghanistan — At the front gate of Firebase Purgatory is a sign that reads “Welcome to Purgatory. You’re never going to leave. … Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division and attached units rotate in and out of the base. Some for a few days, others for months. They can expect few human comforts.

The 2-month-old firebase consists of four drafty tents and an old mud building that houses its tactical operations center. There is no heat, no escaping temperatures that drop into the 20s at night. It’s difficult to sleep some nights when mortars fire either illumination rounds or high explosives.

For security reasons, soldiers can’t use anything but chemical lights or red-filter flashlights at night.

Purgatory has no running water. Hygiene options consist of either bottled water in the sun, or solar shower bags.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner come out of Meals, Ready to Eat bags. Until a Feb. 23 rocket attack, soldiers could go out the front gate and buy snacks. But commanders banned vendors to pressure locals into divulging the culprits.

Purgatory has two smells: garbage burning in the fire pit and soldiers who haven’t showered in days.

When there are a lot of missions, the base gets so crowded that many soldiers sleep in Humvees. It reaches capacity when special operation teams show up for either missions with the 10th Mountain Division or for medical treatment.

The longer one stays at Purgatory, the more one gets used to seeing special operation soldiers shambling across the base, shadowed by a medic carrying the IV bag.

There are signs that Purgatory may become something like a base. Engineers from the 328th Engineer Company are busy putting in a helicopter landing strip. But right now, it feels like the roughest spot in Afghanistan.

Purgatory, says Pvt. Fred Fredrickson, a radio operator with Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, is “a monastery of heathens, with no sin available.”